Handwriting books with tracing for 9yo - help!

[detestedDIL]

DS9 has absolutely terrible handwriting unless he really tries, which he can sustain for at most a few sentences.

He's homeschooled, which at least means someone is nagging him about legibility. At school his handwriting went from good printing before he started, to totally illegible by mid Year 2, because no-one paid any attention to it.

However, a lot of it is down to him just not caring, with slope often backwards, letters joining all over the place, letter heights wrong, dropping below the line, punctuation joined to letters, etc. He's been tested for dysgraphia and dyspraxia, they say he's nowhere near bad enough to get a diagnosis.

In desperation I have made him do handwriting practice every day this year, using the CGP books from Year 2 up to Year 5, as well as completing (for the second or third time) the old Oxford Owl books from Year 2 to Year 4. His workbooks are triple-ruled 9mm. He writes with a Stabilo Easybirdy fountain pen.

This improved things for a bit, but the novelty has worn off and he's gone back to just not caring. The deterioration in the handwriting books is essentially back to the beginning of the year.

He seems to need to go back to tracing over decent cursive for his handwriting practice.

Can anyone recommend books that involve tracing, preferably fairly small?

In your situation I would see an occupational therapist or specialist handwriting tutor first to find out where the issue is. It could be the grip, the pen, a muscle control thing, the technique. Some kids are better aiming for different letter shapes or writing styles.

All the nagging won't help, you need professional, supportive input.

You need to be wary of saying it is due to 'not caring'. Too much criticism makes kids struggle more and try less. He will be acutely aware of your frustration.

Teach him to touch type instead.

It is important to be able to write legibly at reasonable speed unless adjustments will be made in future exams.

He needs to be able to write - he's going to have to do it in exams: essays, maths, music etc. For him, the act of handwriting notes (summarising in point form) is really the only way he takes anything in. So it's quite important that he can do that legibly.

The assessment for dysgraphia was done a few months ago by specialist in dysgraphia in a national centre for SLDs; and he was assessed last year for dyspraxia by a team including ed psych, physio, SLT and OT. Both assessments said motor planning of letters is relatively poor but hand muscles and joints are fine, pen grip is good. At the time of the dyspraxia assessment the handwriting was awful and they suggested daily practice with cursive books, and writing with gel pen (fountain pen is a bit niche where we live). At the time of the dysgraphia assessment the handwriting was far better than it is now, and the person doing the testing said his handwriting was better than most kids his age, and to keep up the great work. He then got the idea that it was fine and he no longer had to try...

DS (AuDHD, PDA profile, often too cool for school) sees it all as a bit of a pointless faff, and questions why he has to do this if his (professor) dad can have illegible handwriting; so I think there is genuinely some not caring going on...

I'd query (obviously you know your child best) whether going for small is a good idea. I'd go for fairly large to get him doing letter formation right before going small. I would recommend the Getty-Dubay books (but they start large rather than small).

In terms of motivation, is there anyone he might like to write a letter to (maybe a grandparent or a cousin if all his friends are local)? You could help him do that, and it might get him to see that as they need to actually be able to read it, he needs to write legibly.

DS has dysgraphia and touch types including in exams. He can type faster than his friends can write.

Can he read it? If so, I honestly think it’s not a ditch to die in. He can type exams, and beyond that it doesn’t matter.

I’m all for lovely handwriting if it comes naturally, but it’s not something I would make him slog at if it’s not his thing.

No, he can’t read it. Also typing means he takes nothing in. And he needs to be able to write legibly for maths and music. I am aiming for functional legibilty and speed, not calligraphy!

Go back to HB pencil. My dd - highly able - had a pencil til age 11. Her handwriting is now almost obsessively perfect ( age 15).

Just wondering what age he started to learn to type and can you recommend a specific program?

OP- my 8 year old is the same. But I don't think he's going to get any better with more practise. It's a real struggle and seems like a processing problem too and even one sentence really wears him out. I'm thinking at this stage of just embracing learning to touch type and keep the writing for maths and the odd bit of work.

The OT recommended the Write from the Start program by Ion Teodorescu, as DD1, as she had dyspraxia (sometime between age 5 and 7). DD1 ended up with lovely handwriting, although she also learnt to touch type later, as realistically that’s what she needed at secondary. However, handwriting is correlated with reading - I guess all that repetition of the hand movements drives home the visual and auditory processing of the letters?

He learned via a dyslexia club in year 6. They used Englishtype. He absolutely hated going to the lessons but agrees it was worth it now.
He doesn’t have dyslexia and is actually an extremely keen and able reader, having rubbish handwriting hasn’t stopped him reading.